Inspirators
by TheUn-POP-ableBubble
Summary: In-spi-ra-tor: noun. One who inspires or motivates others. / A collection of SasuXSaku oneshots created because you guys inspire me! Thanks for being my inspirators!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Hey all! I've started something a little new and something dedicated to some very special people! I've been asking you guys for random stuff to inspire me as I write The Life of the Child. This is my way of telling you all that even if you don't see a connection between what you told me and what happens in my story, you're words DO inspire me! Just maybe not for The Life of the Child. So I've put that inspiration to work and will write a oneshot every now and then based on what someone has given me in their review. ^^ Sound cool? These will all be SasukexSakura unless you wish otherwise and send me a message. Thanks!

**Inspirator: **Marie Pattin

**Inspiration: **"For the love of all that is holy!", "Maybe you should just jump off that bridge", ticking clock, memories, envelopes.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing of the characters. I only own the plotline which was actually gift wrapped and delivered to me in a lovely review by Marie Pattin! This one's for you!

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* * *

_

_Tick. Tock. _

Rustle of papers.

_Tick. Tock. _

Scratch of pen.

_Tick. Tock._

Sigh of annoyance.

_Tick. Tock._

Tap of foot.

_Tick. Tock._

"Oh, for the love of all that is holy!!"

A second, deeper sigh sounded throughout the spacious room. The man of soon-to-be-twenty-one years of age was clearly irritated. He cast a dark eyed gaze towards his boisterous companion. She was ripping her fingers through her hair and looked no happier than him.

_Tick. Tock._

Oh.

_Tick. Tock._

My.

_Tick. Tock_

God.

_Tick. Tock._

Kill.

_Tick. Tock._

Me.

_Tick. Tock._

Now.

_Tick. Tock._

"Holy Mary, Mother of God!!"

"Sakura…" came a growling protest. Honestly, he would have liked to know where exactly she learned to express herself so… explicitly. He had a short list in mind but was prepared to bet that her present mentor held a large part in maturing his comrade's fierce temper. He had always felt that Dr. Tsunade would be a bad influence on his once-innocent friend.

"What, Sasuke U-chi-ha!?!?"

"I'd prefer if you weren't so free with your exclamations whilst in my house."

Now, Sasuke was in no way a Christian Catholic. But his mother was, and she had frequently brought him to mass during his youth. Sure, she was a few hundred miles away _now_ but he would be damned if she ever found out that such things were ever spoken aloud by a friend of his. If Mikoto ever came to visit – which she was bound to do. She was rather attached to her sons and always kept in touch with both whether she was an annoyance or not – Sasuke was unsure whether she would attack Sakura with holy water or simply boot her out of the house and out of her sight. His mother was quite capable of both. Tch. Fierce woman.

"Exclamations!? I was praying jerk!! Is that so wrong?" He decided against dignifying her lame cover-up with a reply. But Sakura was no idiot and could practically read what was going through his head. She huffed, turned her head away and proceeded to grumble under her breath. "Just because I practice a religion while you brood and sulk your way through life…"

"Brood and sulk?" Sasuke scoffed and laid back to relax in his corner of the couch. "I'm not the one who's frustrating herself over a bunch of stupid invitations."

Sakura groaned. This had to have been his eighth complaint. "You're becoming an adult in nine days! That doesn't happen every day, y'know!"

"I never asked for a birthday party much less for _you_ to organize one _for_ me."

"Well," Sakura flustered with the scattered invites and envelopes in front of her. Curse her less-than-impressive organizational skills. Psh. And _she_ wanted to be a doctor. "What would you have me do instead?"

Sasuke gave a sly smirk and guided her by her wrist to his side of the couch until she was practically sitting in his lap. "I can think of a few things."

Sakura showed mock consideration in her eyes; she was suddenly feeling very playful, just like she always did when Sasuke acted like that.

The two friends had only started flirting very recently. It would always start out suggestive and coy but always ended with laughs and jokes when one of them would spit out an extremely corny or cliché line. While it confused some of their other friends, both were happy with the play as long as it was all in good fun. Besides, they only did it because it kept things interesting between them, they never actually did anything. Hell, they had never even kissed each other – despite there being _very_ close incidents and a small variety of other contact.

Sakura quickly made herself comfortable and slinked her arms around Sasuke's neck when she felt his arms secure themselves around her waist. "Can you now?"

"Mm-hm."

Sakura slowly positioned her mouth to his ear. He had to resist a shiver as she whispered, "Care to give me an example?"

Now he had to hold back a small growl. He could feel her smile and he did not like the fact that she was currently dominant. Oh, well; time for his revenge.

"Hmm…" he hummed as he gently nuzzled his face in to her smooth neck. He made sure to breathe on her skin and smirked when he felt her shudder in response. He went a step further and lightly – so lightly that it was barely there – brushed his lips near her pulse. He was sure that her heart quickened its pace and sped up even more when he taunted, "How badly do you want that example?"

Closing her eyes, she reactively stretched her neck to give him easier access and was disappointed when nothing happened. Wait.

_Tick. Tock._

Damn it! Emerald eyes shot open in alarm. She _could not_ be disappointed that nothing happened next! Being disappointed meant that she _wanted_ him to do something and wanted that meant that she was letting her feelings for him resurface. She had always liked Sasuke. Ever since she handed him that picture of the purple flower with blue leaves that had pink polka-dots in their first grade to the time they realized they were headed for the same university. She had always really liked Sasuke. Yes, he was the local hottie where ever he traveled but he had numerous other good qualities about him too. He was caring towards her, if not a bit protective and he was always willing to listen when she needed a person to talk things out with. He saw her through the drama of Middle School and High School and she helped him through his rough family times. They never let each other out of their sights for too long; they knew too much about each other, had too much history with each other: embarrassing moments, dark secrets, special confessions, silly pranks, blackmail, secret hideouts, and lots of good memories. Somewhere in between all of that… she grew to love him.

And when this… _flirting thing_ came up, Sakura had decided that she _would not_ get any of her hopes up and wish that some sort of spark would ignite between them. She had _promised_ herself this. She had promised Ino too. Ino had been concerned for her friend when Sakura told her about the new development in her relationship with the Uchiha and told her to 'be careful'. Sakura nearly scowled at the lack of helpfulness in the quote. 'Being careful' never accomplished anything, especially when she was getting hopeful even though she had kept her emotions in check. Damn her and her _stupid attraction_ towards her lifelong friend!

Sakura felt Sasuke frown and she realized that her body was frozen stiff. He knew that it was a sign that she was uncomfortable and he pulled his head back from her tempting neck. Sure, perhaps he held a slight attraction towards his pink-haired friend. Who wouldn't? She was kind and beautiful and sweet and supportive and loyal. She had been his safe haven when Itachi and his father started fighting and was always there to calm him when his anger became too much: even after he had hit her that one time. She hadn't forgiven him in the snap of a finger but once she had he swore to protect her from anyone who would harm her: including him. In time, and with determination to keep his promise, he had earned a large amount of self-control. But _damn it all_, it took _all_ of his control not to kiss her each time they got that close! He had hoped that the flirting would somehow quench his thirst for her but it had only succeeded in taunting him. _'You're close but not nearly close enough!' _

Sasuke tried to cover what was going through his mind and tried to focus on Sakura. "What's wrong?"

Her eyes seemed to twitch to the side before they kept direct contact. "Nothing's wrong Sasuke."

"You're lying. Something's up. Did I go too far?"

Sakura shook her head. "That wasn't it."

"Then what was it Sakura? Tell me."

Sakura held his gaze. It wasn't a prying one but it was expectant. He wouldn't push her if she didn't want to talk but he did expect to know about it sooner or later. Sakura didn't see how she could tell him about her attraction towards him though. It would only make things awkward between them right? Sakura sighed before she realized her mistake and let out a small yelp when Sasuke neared her face. Their breath tickled each other's face and Sasuke repeated in a whisper, "Tell me."

Sakura couldn't have said a thing if she had wanted to. She wasn't able to form intelligible thoughts while in such close proximity with Sasuke. Did he even realize the effect he had on her!?

Sasuke was having similar difficulties with keeping distance between his lips and hers. When he was this close, he got a full whiff of her shampoo and was intrigued to smell a citrus scent. He inhaled deeply in an attempt to distinguish the fruit but only succeeded in clouding his thoughts with the intoxicating feel of _Sakura_. Sakura on his lap, Sakura in his arms, Sakura in his mind, Sakura in his sights…

_Sakura on his mouth._

Sasuke closed his eyes at the sudden sensation of her lips against his. He surprised himself by learning that he had been _expecting_ her to kiss him. Her kiss was gentle and sweet, just like she was when her temper wasn't through the roof. It was when Sasuke started to respond that Sakura jumped back. She quickly averted his gaze and made haste for the door.

She was gone before he could call out her name properly.

* * *

"Happy Birthday dear Sasuke! Happy Birthday to you!" cheers erupted throughout the cozy house of Sasuke Uchiha as the birthday boy reluctantly blew out only twenty of his twenty one candles. This resulted in much teasing from the idiots he called his friends and much eye rolling on his part. There were more people at his party than he expected. Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Hinata, Tenten and even Itachi, Deidara and Kisame had made an appearance at his evening celebration.

"A toast to the jerk," Naruto suddenly called out, holding up a soda drink. "today you are no longer a minor in any part of the world! Here's to Sasuke and crossing the bridge between boy and man!!"

"Oi Sasuke! Maybe you should just jump off that bridge before things get complicated eh?" teased Deidara. Sasuke huffed. He never understood why that freak was his brother's friend in the first place.

Itachi laughed beside his little brother and slung an arm around his brooding frame. "Lighten up bro; it's your birthday. Besides, there's a very pretty lady waiting for you."

Sasuke raised a brow and gave his older sibling a confused look. Itachi gave a chuckle and gestured towards Sakura who was currently wrapping up a conversation between herself and Shikamaru. She seemed to be edging towards the front patio.

Sasuke caught Itachi's knowing glance and tried to brush it off. "It's just Sakura."

"Yeah. Just the Sakura you kissed recently."

Sasuke snapped his head towards his brother with a glare. "I did not kiss her."

Itachi shrugged. "So she kissed you, same diff. The question is, what are you gonna do about it?"

"What makes you think it even happened?"

"I see a lot of things with these eyes Sasuke. It doesn't take a genius to read body language."

Sasuke watched Sakura slip through the door and out to the front patio. She was probably looking for fresh air from the suffocating atmosphere of the small crowd. She had always preferred being outdoors anyway. Sasuke didn't even realize that he was moving to join her company until the cold evening air rushed in to his lungs.

"Hey birthday boy." At least she wasn't completely silent after what had happened the last time they saw each other.

"Hey." Nice approach. Keep it simple stupid.

"Looking for a birthday present? Mine's on the table with the rest."

Sasuke shook his head. "No. That's not what I'm here for."

"Okay." Sakura nodded to show that she was following. "So what's up?"

Sasuke sighed and copied her stance of resting her elbows on the railing of the patio. He stared at the sky for a minute before he sighed and faced his lifelong friend. "What was with the kiss a few days back?"

Sakura held his gaze. She knew that he would approach her sooner or later and she had already planned out how best to say what she meant. But she was risking a lot by telling him this. Strangely, that threat didn't stop her from slowly explaining, "I really like you Sasuke. A lot. Kissing you that time… it felt like a good way to tell you that."

Sasuke nodded in understanding and turned his gaze forwards again. He thought over her words in his head and had to smirk. He couldn't stop his playful side from saying, "You should tell me that a lot more often."

Sakura laughed. It felt good not to be rejected. But thinking back on everything she had ever shared with Sasuke, she couldn't remember why she had been so scared that he would turn her away or let their friendship deteriorate from that one thing alone. Sasuke was her best friend! Why on earth had she been so scared to tell him that she liked him?

She brought her own playful side out and replied, "And why is that?"

"Because I really like you a lot too."

Sakura smiled. She felt so relieved that no big drama had occurred like she thought. Sasuke even seemed to be more relaxed too.

"Then you have to tell me that every now and then, alright?"

Sasuke's smirk grew. "Sounds like a deal to me."

Sakura nodded and kept her smile on as she gazed at the moon. It was a simple half moon that night. Nothing much special.

"Hey Sakura,"

"Hm?" She turned to Sasuke and was met with a pair of lips meeting hers.

She smiled when he pulled away and whispered in her ear, "I really like you."

Who knows? Maybe the half moon could be special after all.

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**Author's Note: **I hope you guys enjoyed that; especially you Marie Pattin if you're reading this! ^^ Remember Marie, YOU made this happen!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **I'm actually not too sure what to say about this one. See, I was re-reading _Forgive But Never Forget_ by _mrie_ and her style of writing is one that I really, really enjoy reading. And then I was reading the newest fic written by _Paige O.o_ (I can't remember the name for the life of me). And DING! I was hit by inspiration. So I hope that someone out there likes this because I've stayed up late to post it and because I'm not too sure if I really like it... I just don't know what I think of this... Let me know??

**Inspirator: **Paige O.o for the plot, mrie for the writing style

**Inspiration: **"Should we have kept chasing you?"

**Disclaimer: **I'm trying to figure out what I actually DO own. I'm not coming up with too much.

* * *

She froze when she saw him. He wasn't supposed to be there. Hell, he had last been sighted in the Water Country – he had no business to stand in the snow and stare back at her. But it didn't matter how many times she blinked her green, green eyes and it didn't matter how many times she told herself he shouldn't be there; he was.

She doesn't blink, doesn't breathe, and doesn't dare hope for the best. She only gawks and waits for something to happen; something that she doesn't want to happen (but she does _need_ it to happen).

The snow continues to fall and the breeze continues to dance and the time still refuses to move.

It is easy, she thinks, to imagine that they are alone in the world. That – in the deep, white, desolate landscape of the Snow Country – they are truly the only two people on Earth.

And since they are very much alone, she gathers her strength and her courage and says,

"It's been thirteen years since you left."

Her voice isn't what he expected. It isn't shaky or fearful or uncertain or frightened. But it isn't regretful or overwhelmed or joyful or giddy either. It is simply her voice. And both are grateful for its natural and neutral sound.

"I know."

His voice isn't what she expected. It isn't cold or icy or blank or uncaring. But it isn't cocky or superior or powerful or dangerous. It is simply his voice. And both are grateful for its natural and neutral sound.

"It's been eight years since you disappeared." She states.

"It's been eight years since you stopped looking for me." He corrects. And he's right; she knows he's always been right.

She almost wants to tell him that Naruto still wonders about his whereabouts, still feels the urge to rush head-first into whatever country he was last sighted in, _still wants him home_. She almost wishes to let him know that there will be a ceremony in Konoha in a little over two months to celebrate the start of a Sixth Hokage's rule and that he would be welcome in the village, would be invited to the celebration, _would be wanted there_.

But she doesn't.

Because – for right now at least – they are the only two people who exist; the only two people who matter. News of Naruto will reach his ears one way or another.

She is surprised when he asks, "Why did you stop?"

It is not the question that surprises her, nor the fact that he asked her a question without any prompts or pushing to engage him in a conversation. What surprises her is the natural emotion that has been etched into the query. She hears a natural tone of curiosity and bitterness in his words and it comforts her to know that he is human still.

But the comfort he brings her does not ease the shame that eats away at her heart; the same shame that has eaten away at her very being ever since she lost hope eight years ago.

"Should I have kept chasing you?"

She wants him to say no. She wants him to tell her that she couldn't have brought him back no matter how long she chased, no matter how hard she tried. She wants him to say that he was a lost cause, that she was right to lose faith in him. She _needs_ him to tell her those things because otherwise the guilt and the shame and the self-loathing and the pain will _eat her alive_.

"No."

She does not blink, does not breathe, and does not dare hope for the best. Because she knows that there is more to that reply then what first appears.

"But sometimes, I wish you had."

He proves her right and she wishes that he never had because her heart lurches and rips and tears and screams that she is a fool and she can feel herself being torn to pieces. Pain and regret and selfishness and denial all gnaw at her soul while 'what-ifs' and 'could-have-beens' and 'maybe-back-thens' brutally attack her mind. She can feel herself being lost and vaguely wonders if she is dying. But she scoffs and tells herself that she is being silly; she has already been dying for the past eight years.

Despite her inner turmoil, she still stands tall and never wavers in her upright stance. Her body becomes a fortress; keeping her personal chaos in while she keeps any more from entering and she hardly feels human anymore.

She doesn't blink, doesn't breathe, and doesn't dare hope for the best when he kisses her. Because blinking, breathing and hoping for the best are all things a human would do and she no longer is a human. She has transformed herself into a pathetic shroud of the human existence. But she casts aside that fact and allows herself to kiss him back while it can still _mean something_.

Their embrace is broken much too soon and so they enter a second round which is then followed by a third. He does not allow them to embrace a ninth time.

"I'm sorry." He whispers.

"Goodbye." She understands.

But she still blinks, breathes, and hopes for the best before she screams at her own stupidity. While she blinked, breathed, and hoped, he had vanished.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So yeah... Not the happiest story in all of but not the worst by any stretch. I'm still not sure what I think of this one. Anyway, hope someone out there enjoyed it (and maybe I shed a few tears?? Or is that me asking for too much? -.-). Both stories that inspired this can be found under my Favorites tab.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **There's a bit of a twist this time 'round. I wrote this in hopes to inspire one of my friends: **Twigs-N-Leaves.** Although, I was inspired for Sasuke's bold personality by a new favorite manga of mine, "St. Dragon Girl". I definitely reccommend it to any one interested in love, dragons, pandas, or Chinese outfits! :D This is an AU fic, based on the theme of inspiration so it's a little different from the others. BUT I did say I wanted to update every story of mine (meaning all 10 of them!) before my break finishes and I'm back in school. And I thought this was as good a place as any to post this fic (which I'm a little fond of). Fair warning, I wrote this all in one night - within about 2 1/2 hours actually, so I can't claim it to be my best work. Still, I hope someone really enjoys this!

**Inspirator: **Natsumi Matsumoto, author of **St. Dragon Girl**

**Inspiration: "If you treat this stuffed animal I picked up when we were kids with such great devotion, why not just admit that you're in love with me?" -Ryuga, character from St. Dragon Girl**

* * *

Her cell phone was mocking her, she was absolutely sure of it.

It was just sitting on the living room's coffee table, looking normal and gleaning in the sunlight. But for some reason, Sakura kept a watchful gaze on the cell phone rather than the best friend sitting beside her.

Ino noticed.

"Um, hel-lo? Forehead?" As she expected, it wasn't her words that recaptured Sakura's attention, but the perfectly manicured hand waving in front of her face did the trick.

"Huh – what?" Inwardly, Ino laughed. The poor dear was just so lost. "Sorry, Ino, I was kind of distracted. What were you saying?"

"Just that you should _totally_ jump Sasuke sometime soon."

Again, just as expected, Sakura's face burned as if she'd had a bad tanning experience. A _really__bad_ tanning experience. Ino secretly cackled with evil glee and then took advantage of Sakura's gaping mouth to fluster her friend further.

"I mean, have you _seen_ the man? What I wouldn't give to have seven minutes in heaven with_ him_! Or maybe seven_ty_ minutes would be more… _beneficial_." Sakura looked like she was on the verge of a nosebleed now. Ino couldn't keep her grin contained to her inward persona and let it stretch over her blemish-free face. Sakura made _such_ an easy tease.

'_No wonder Sasuke does it all the time,' _Ino thought.

Regaining her vocals, Sakura shouted, "I-Ino! That is _completely_ out of line! I've been friends with the guy since we were _seven_ – I shouldn't think of him like that!"

Ino rolled her eyes at Sakura's most worn excuse for staving off a relationship with Sasuke. It wouldn't have been so annoying, if Sakura was willing to go for other guys. But no one compared to Sasuke Uchiha – the guy she'd _so obviously _been in love with since about forever. And now that they were approaching the end of their high school years, Ino figured it was definitely time for Sakura to get a move on.

"Oh _please_, Sakura, don't give me that!" Ino gave her friend a 'no-no' finger wag. Then she winked and said, "Besides, you can't _possibly _deny that he'd be _absolutely _sexy."

Sakura looked off for a moment. Then she nodded, "Yeah, he'd probably make it worth while."

Ino laughed and wrapped an arm around her friend, exclaiming, "_That's _my girl! Goodness, Forehead, who knew you had such a dirty mind?"

Sakura scoffed, "As if. Compared to you, Pig, I'm squeaky clean."

A sound of agreement and a couple giggles later, and the girls were back to their coffee.

"By the way," Ino began, "why were you staring at your phone a while ago? Thinking of calling Mr. Gorgeous?"

Sakura gave a sigh; she could never hide anything from Ino. Well, she'd never been very good at hiding secrets, actually; almost any of her friends – relative or acquaintance – could tell when she was withholding something. She was terrible at concealing nervousness. Embarrassingly terrible.

"Kind of, yeah. I'm working on another fanfiction but I can't decide whether-"

"The heroine falls in love with the best friend or the bad boy?" Ino guessed. "Her pet is a dog or fish? The dragon blows red or blue fire?"

Sakura gave a bit of a nervous giggle. "Well, something along those lines. I'm just so bad at making decisions."

Ino gave a 'pfft'. "That's a lie; we both know you could easily pick and choose any one of those things."

Sakura gave a mutter like, "Well, yeah, but…"

Ino tilted her head in curiosity. She wasn't teasing anymore. "So, then… why do you always call Sasuke to make those decisions? These fanfictions that you write – they're all yours, right? Sasuke's not a co-writer or something?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, he's not."

Ino blinked. "So why do you always call him?"

Sakura gave a noncommittal shrug. "He inspires me."

Ino narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "But there's more to it, isn't there?"

Sakura sighed and began to play with her hair, a small sign of embarrassment. Ino knew this meant that Sakura was about to reveal a secret. She listened intently.

"Well, it's a little silly but… I do it because then it feels like there's a part of him in everything I write – that he's a part of everything I create. Even if it's just something small."

There was silence as the secret sank into the room. And then…

"Oh, Forehead," Ino dramatically sighed, "there is no hope for you. You are _such_ a romantic!"

Sakura was blushing again. "Well, so what if I am?" she asked defensively.

"It's sickening, that's what," Ino answered, sticking out her tongue. Her gesture was met with a pillow to her face. This quickly escalated into a pillow war, complete with loud squeals, low-thrown taunts, full-body wrestling and spilt coffee. Cleaning up their mess had been just as fun as creating it.

"Well, I guess I should go," Ino said after the floor was clean and the mugs were safely put away. Looking at her designer watch, Ino explained, "Our shipment will be in soon and Mom will want me to help stock and arrange the flowers."

"Sounds fun," Sakura gave her a quick hug goodbye as they stood. "I'll see you Monday then?"

"Yes, unless I have a shopping emergency tomorrow," Ino winked. "And chances are _pretty_ likely, just to let you know."

Sakura laughed and opened the door. "I'll keep my day free."

"Good," Ino laughed along. But before she stepped out far enough for Sakura to close the door, Ino turned back and said, "I wanna know if anything juicy happens when you call the local demi-god, okay?"

Sakura shoved her off the front porch and politely slammed the door to Ino's laughter. Taking a deep breath, Sakura looked back towards the living room.

Her phone was still there.

Quickly checking to make sure Ino didn't have her nose pressed up to the window or something, Sakura picked up the phone, sat down, flipped it open, and scrolled to the contact named 'Sasuke'. As she stared at the white device in her hand, she began to tap her foot to the rhythm of a hummingbird's wing – a habit indicating she was nervous. But, really, what did she have to be nervous about? She _did_ need a name for the dragon in her story and it wasn't like she had never called Sasuke before. Also, he had never _not_ answered his phone whenever she worked up the nerve to dial his number.

'_But that's just it, isn't it?' _Sakura mused, _'I'll _have_ to talk to him if I call.'_

And for some reason, she was cautious about talking to Sasuke. She had been cautious ever since they were children and grew up together. But because of their long-way-back relationship, they knew each other very well – they learned how to read each other's signals as if they were siblings rather than neighbors. And recently, Sakura feared that, just through talking, Sasuke would pick up on her heart rate that sped up every time she heard his voice.

She was scared he might discover her romantic feelings for him.

'_**Gah, this is dumb, Sakura!' **_The pinkette's inner self chided. Sakura distantly thought that she sounded a little like Ino. _**'There's no point in convincing yourself that you won't do it! And besides, it's completely innocent – you've called him every time before! Won't it be a little suspicious if he finds out you **_**didn't **_**call? What then?'**_

Sakura took a deep breath and resolved, _'R-Right then! I'll call him!'_

And then she pressed call.

And then the phone rang.

And rang.

And rang-

"Sakura?"

Geez! He hadn't even spoken two words and her heart was fluttering faster than her foot. Why, oh why, did he have to have this effect on her?

"Hey, Sasuke! Um, quick question for you…" Sakura was always surprised at how natural she seemed to sound over the phone – despite her horrible trend of keeping her secrets and emotions hidden.

"Something for another one of your fanfictions?"

Sakura lightly blushed. Had she really called that often? "Yeah… Uh, see, there's a dragon in this one and I can't decide on a name. It's a Chinese horned dragon so it governs rain and I'm thinking of having it be greenish-blue in colour. He's-"

"Ginga," Sasuke cut her off.

"Huh? You think? That means the 'Milky Way', doesn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but people can also take it as 'galaxy'."

Sakura tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Huh. I didn't even think of having a name like that. That's not a bad - hey, you haven't even heard what the dragon does yet!"

She heard him sigh on the other side. "Look, Sakura it's not that I'm not interested, okay? It's just… you kind of interrupted my personal karate training and Kakashi-sensei is starting to give me threatening looks."

Sakura gasped and double-checked the time. She had completely forgotten that Sasuke trained at this time every Saturday! "Oh my gosh, Sasuke, I'm _so_ sorry! It totally slipped my mind!"

Her heart skipped when he laughed, "Don't worry, Sakura. I'm the one who picked up, remember?"

'_That's right,'_ Sakura thought, _'even though he was in the middle of something, he answered my call - just like he always does. But does that mean I'm… important to him?' _Sakura gave a blush and tried very hard not to get over excited. Of course she was important, Sasuke deeply treasured every friend he had. It was one of the things she liked most about him – his unwavering loyalty and trust to his friends, no matter how few they were or how crazy they got.

'_Like Naruto with his ramen, or me with my fanfiction,'_ Sakura gave a sweatdrop of embarrassment at a memory of not so long ago when she had been absolutely obsessed with her writing. She had calmed down a bit since then but she had been a real nutcase for a while. Thoughtfully, she wondered, _'I post all my work online… I wonder if Sasuke's ever read any of it…'_

"So... do you need something else or are you good?"

Sakura jumped in her seat when Sasuke snapped her out of her thoughts. Then she silently thanked that he hadn't seen that happen – he'd just tease her about it.

"Um… no, yeah! I'm all good, now! Thanks Sasuke!"

'_**Way to just stumble through **_**that**_** one,'**_ inner Ino mocked.

"No problem. Oh, and, Sakura?" Sensing his smirk, Sakura gave a 'go-ahead' sound. "If you're already this in love with me, you should just confess."

Both Sakura and her inner were rendered speechless. _He knew? _She was pretty sure her heart had just stopped beating altogether and she was going to die of embarrassment then and there.

"I mean, really, do you ever _not_ use my suggestions when you ask me something? Cuz you sure seem to use most of them."

'_Huh?'_ Sakura questioned. _'He's read my work? And he remembers everything I ask him and what he said?'_

When she remained flabbergasted, he laughed again, "Don't worry, Sakura. We can talk later, when you find your voice!"

Maybe it was the tone of his voice; maybe it was victory in his laughter; or maybe it was because she had never responded well to taunts. But for whatever reason, something spurred her to reply, "Yeah, maybe. And since you're head over heels for _me_, we could make a lunch date for tomorrow at Ichiraku's."

"One o'clock?" Well, his grin might still be there but she could hear that his ego was deflated a bit. Perhaps he hadn't expected her to snap back.

Or maybe he was just impressed.

"Noon," and then she hung up before he could take the last word. She didn't think he'd have had it anyway – he was laughing again when she shut her phone.

With both the biggest grin and reddest blush on her face, Sakura grabbed her nearby laptop, and began typing out a brand new story.

'_Hmm, maybe it'll be a love story,' _Sakura pondered, _'between two childhood friends. And it'll include mud pies, birthday parties gone wrong, constant teasing, and happily ever after.'_

Thinking of childhood friends, Sakura quickly wrote out a text to Ino: "Maybe I won't have tomorrow free. At least not lunch. ;) I told you he inspires me!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **Heh heh heh... Yeah... It's kind of cute but not that great, right? Oh, well! At least I had fun writing it! ^^ And Twiggy, maybe it's way too much to ask, but did this re-spark your love of SasuSaku? Even a little bit?


End file.
